This morning Ben found a wildflower hike organized by the local Botanical Garden, described as an "easy 4 mile loop" and we drove out to the meeting point. Two ladies in their 80's introduced themselves as the hike leaders. About 15 people showed up, ranging in age from 8 to 90. Ben and I had a simultaneous thought that this was going to be "too easy and too slow" but we were already committed to carpool to the trailhead.
The garden ladies were experts in plant and butterfly identification, so we learned some interesting facts about butterflies: they love sunshine, so that is when you see them out; the tiny blue ones take up minerals from the wet creek bank soil,
and black swallowtail male thinks of nothing but sex, guarding the female chrysalis he has chosen so he can immediately hook up with her as soon as she emerges.
Our big group began a creeping climb up the steep trail. Every couple of minutes we would stop to discover a plant or insect. Our guide Ann was enthusiastic and fit, but the group was just too large to manage. After a mile and a half of uphill climb, I was hot and tired. Ben and I kept forging on ahead as I was fixated on finding a shady spot to eat lunch. We got further and further ahead of the group. Four others caught up with us when we finally found shade - they also had abandoned the group. There had been a bit of insurrection as it was clear that the hike was too much for many of the folks.
This 4 mile "easy loop" hike took us 4 hours up and down some steep grades. We will now take "easy" with a grain of salt, here in Idaho. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful hike and we will not underestimate anyone because of their age!
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Thanks for following! J